


The Search

by jackabelle73



Series: Captured Moments [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Ficlet Collection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 06:00:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12358998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jackabelle73/pseuds/jackabelle73
Summary: Belle goes searching for her identity, with only a few vague clues to aid her.





	The Search

Belle forced herself to stop outside the shop, and take a deep breath while she studied the sign. Mr. Gold, Pawnbroker and Antiquities, it read. Could this be it?

It had been five years since she’d left home, shortly after her 18th birthday, to find her treasure box. The resentment she’d felt at the time for so little information to go on, had long since faded. Sure, it would have been easier if she’d had an actual treasure map to guide her, as many families provided to their young adults as they set out to find their identity.

But her mother had been the only one who knew the exact location of Belle’s treasure box, and that information had been lost with her sudden death when Belle was sixteen. All her father could offer her was a necklace, with a pendant featuring a minimalist blue flower design, an old-fashioned key, and a small shard of white china. He said that his mother had intended to give those items to her before she left home. A search on the Internet led her to believe that the design belonged to a china tea set which had not been produced for years. With no other leads, Belle set out to track down as many pieces of the tea set as she could. 

For five years, she’d traveled the world, scouring antique shops like the one she stood in front of now. She’d visited small town flea markets, roadside yard sales, auctions and estate sales. She’d knocked on strangers’ doors with a polite explanation of how she’d tracked a sale of a cup, tea pot, or sugar dish to them, and would they mind just showing her the piece? Whenever possible, she’d bought the china and sent it home to her father in Australia for safekeeping. He must have a room full of them by now. 

The search for her treasure box had taken her all over the world, and she’d made friends almost everywhere she went. Merida in Scotland, Ariel in Atlantis, Anna and her sister Elsa in the little northern country of Arendelle, and Mulan in China. She’d saved the life of a man named Robin Hood in England, and although she hadn’t expected any reward for it – she’d only done what any decent person would do – he nevertheless repaid her by buying a plane ticket to her next destination, New York City. In a Brooklyn antique store, she’d had a friendly chat with another customer named Neal, and it was him who’d suggested she make her way to Storybrooke and visit his father’s pawn shop. He thought he remembered seeing a teacup with that design the last time he’d visited his father. 

Leads for the discontinued china set had grown more and more scarce, and Belle was starting to think she’d found them all. Or else the design on her necklace wasn’t a clue at all, and she’d wasted the last five years.

Well, standing out here on the sidewalk wasn’t going to answer her question. 

A bell rang as she opened the door, causing the man behind the counter to look up. “Good morning,” he greeted. 

Belle glanced around and could tell that it would take an entire day to explore the shop’s stock. Easier just to ask. “Are you Mr. Gold?" 

"I am. May I help you?" 

 "I hope so.” She pulled her necklace from beneath her blouse as she approached, and showed it to him. “I’m looking for a tea set – or pieces of one – that have this design." 

Lips pursed, he studied the pendant she held out. "I believe I have a cup that looks like that; I put it in storage because it was damaged. Didn’t have a hope of selling a chipped cup, but couldn’t bring myself to throw it away." 

"May I see it, please?” Belle tried to stamp down her mounting excitement. He’d called it a  _chipped_  cup. He nodded and walked into another room, aided by a cane. She reached into her bag to find the shard of china that she’d kept and protected through all her travels. 

It was several minutes before the tapping of the cane announced his return. As soon as she saw the cup in his hand, saw the shape of the missing chip, she knew. He set the cup down, and she reached out with trembling hands to set her shard into the jagged gap of the cup’s rim. She’d found it. After five years and so many countries that she’d lost count, she’d found the cup which held her small broken piece. 

“Well, that’s something I didn’t expect to see today,” the shopkeeper remarked. “Didn’t think I’d ever see that cup whole again. You’ve worked a bit of magic there.”  

“May I buy this, Mr. Gold?” she asked, without looking up from the cup. 

“I’d already given up on selling it. Since you have the missing piece, seems to me that it should belong to you. It’s yours, free of charge, Miss…?" 

She finally looked up from the cup to see him looking at her with expectation. "Oh… thank you so much, Mr. Gold.” She extended her hand. “I’m Belle." 

"Belle,” he repeated, shaking her hand. His grip was firm and warm. He smiled, and that one simple movement transformed his careworn face, bringing a light to his eyes. “Welcome to Storybrooke.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second ficlet written on my phone during a training day. This one was inspired by this prompt: http://jackabelle73.tumblr.com/post/157066676072/writing-prompt-s-when-youre-born-a-treasure These short fics are tagged on my Tumblr as #phone ficlet.


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